Ty Lawson blames himself for sparking Suns’ fourth quarter revival

PHOENIX — Itâ€™s not often that the man most responsible for keeping a team in the game is the same one blaming himself for keeping said team from a win.

And yet thatâ€™s the path Ty Lawson walked late Friday night after the Nuggetsâ€™ fourth loss in five games to start the season, 114-103 in Phoenix. Lawsonâ€™s 21 third quarter points were largely responsible for the Nuggetsâ€™ ability to erase a 17-point halftime deficit and take a 10 point lead in the period.

But he blamed poor game management on himself, allowing the Suns to pull back within three by the end of the quarter, setting up their furious â€“ and victorious â€“ fourth quarter finish.

â€śThe third quarter when we went up 10, I should have managed the game better,â€ť Lawson said. â€śWe took a lot of quick shots and turned the ball over at the end of the quarter. Thatâ€™s the time youâ€™ve got to manage the game, going into the fourth quarter and up by 10 or at least around there. I think thatâ€™s mostly my fault, and in the fourth quarter we just laid an egg like weâ€™ve done in most of the games weâ€™ve lost.â€ť

The Nuggets were outscored 30-16 in the fourth quarter. The Suns shot 11-of-18 (61.1 percent) in the final period, while the Nuggets hit just 7-of-18 shots (38.9) and lost eight turnovers to seal the defeat.

Follow Chris Dempsey on Twitter @dempseypost or email him at cdempsey@denverpost.com

WOW- congratulations Josh your team looks great guess George wanting to take care of his assistant coaches doesn’t look so bad now maybe you could of called mommy and had her put some more people out of work and give you the money so you could of giving George and his staff some security Luv the way McGee is improving under Shaw and the team looks like there going right to the finals. That Randy Foye is great I think we should play him 30 min a game and sit the French guard- O never mind did that- worked out great.

Facts if the Nuggets were in the east could of made the finals ran into a incredibly hot shooter and had a traitor on the team in the playoffs last year Josh excuses are BS, his family DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO WIN CHAMPIONSHIPS IN PRO SPORTS. Look at the records 1 year after Kroenkes took control of all there sport teams In spite of how rich you are Josh numbers dont lie.

The players are not motivated because they know how good they were under Karl and how inept they are under Shaw. In other words talk in cheap Josh Kroenke.

Nice to see the comments by Lawson in acknowledging his role as the floor leader and not blaming his teammates, some of whom are just going through the motions right now. I suspect that Ty will keep learning and improving. Whining about what happened in the off season seems silly as there’s nowhere to go but forward.

Chris Dempsey arrived at The Denver Post in Dec. 2003 after seven years at the Boulder Daily Camera, where he primarily covered the University of Colorado football and men's basketball teams. A University of Colorado-Boulder alumnus, Dempsey covers the Nuggets and also chips in on college sports.